An account of the wildlife I come across and hopefully pictures to bring the account closer

Sunday, 5 July 2015

Sunday 5th. July 2015

I must admit , the very muggy weather has somewhat reduced the amount of wildlife about , and with making several visits to High Elms to hopefully get another sighting of the Large / Scarce Tortoiseshell , which didn't happen , and to check up on the emergence of Silver-washed Fritillary and White-letter Hairstreak butterflies , there's not a lot to talk about . So it's down to pictures and comments again .

Crab Spiders / Misumena vatia , seem to be everywhere at the moment , this one dining on a mining bee .

A first for me was finding a pair , the male much smaller than the female .

But , as the saying goes , size isn't everything , and he knew what to do .

As a bonus , when he fulfilled his duty , he wasn't eaten by the female and was able to depart .

Only my second time of finding the Hazel-leaf Roller Weevil / Apoderus coryli , a strange looker .

More common , the Hairy or Sloe Shieldbug / Dolycoris baccarum .

The strangest sighting was this male Large Skipper , with what I have been told is the pollinium of an orchid stuck to or trapped on his proboscis . Before flying off it spent some time trying to remove it with his front legs .

A return visit to Lullingstone Country Park for Dark Green Fritillary with Martin was somewhat disappointing , with just 35/50 mainly male specimens found . This pair were the only mating pair seen .

Marbled White numbers were higher , with good numbers of the light brown under-winged females being found .

Even that visit ended at High Elms on the way home . Martin had a long distance 'possible' for the Tortoiseshell , but too far to be confirmed . But I did get my first SWF shot of the year .

The highlight of the HE butterfly transect was this DGF found on Burnt Gorse . 9 species were recorded , but apart from Meadow Brown (217) and Ringlet (153) , other numbers were still low .

I've been expecting to find the Yellow and Black Longhorned Beetle / Rutpela maculata , since the Brambles came into flower , but finally caught up with one .
The less said about the Down House bird survey the better , as only 16 species , withouit a single Summer visitor was all that was recorded . 3 DGF found in the large meadow was some consolation .

Three Peacock larvae were found in an obvious bare nettle patch ,

and nearby , a ladybird larva was making it's final skin change into a Harlequin .

A look in at Keston Ponds for Sm.Red-eyed Damselfly proved fruitless , but lots of Black-tailed Skimmers , male pictured , several Emperor Dragonfly and singles of Downy Emerald , Brown Hawker and Four-spotted Chaser were in aerial combat , whilst a female Emperor was calmly

ovipositing on introduced Water Hawthorn .
The last couple of visits to HE has produced 'Hairstreak sized' sightings in the top of an Ash that stands above a Wych Elm in the bottom glade . I have yet to get any positive WLH sightings , and will be glad when the Canadian Golden Rod , their favoured nectaring flower comes into bloom .

Friday at HE produced a welcomed sight , in the form of two Violet Helleborine flower spikes , the first time in a few years that they have shown to my knowledge . Added to the 13 spikes along the Sandwalk at Down House , things are looking good for the species .